So It Begins...

Well, the SoC program has finally begun, although myself and many others have been active for almost 2 months now :) Next week is when I'll begin my official SoC schedule, that is to say, next week my current job bumps down to 3 days a week, and I'll have entire days devoted to OpenMRS, as well as evenings/weekends once I'm home from my other job. In the next 2 or 3 days, I'll be finishing up a small contract programming job that I took to earn some quick cash, and I think I may need to write an entry solely on that experience, I think it offers a great insight into how a lot of contract programming jobs unfold. Currently, I'm trying to resolve an issue with Tomcat on my distribution of Linux (ArchLinux, http://www.archlinux.org). There is a kernel module that Tomcat needs loaded in order to function, for some reason. It is a known issue, and I hope to have it resolved soon. How ironic is it that my project is to develop a simple "click and forget" installer for OpenMRS and I'm having trouble installing it? :) All is well though, the OpenMRS part is a breeze, it's all the dependencies that seem to hold everyone up. This project will surely be a challenge, but it's a welcomed challenge. I'm all for making the process of using a computer/software easier for everyone else, and I can personally attest to being turned away from numerous applications simply due to their complex installation requirements. Luckily though, my project doesn't depend directly on having OpenMRS installed and running on my system, so there are a lot of other productive things I can work on in parallel to getting the system installed, and I intend to do just that. That's all I've got for now, take care.

Welcome!

Hello, and welcome. Beginning on May 28th, I'll be giving daily (hopefully) updates related to my experience during this years Google Summer Of Code. I'm working for a great organization, OpenMRS, which is run by a lot of great people. To find out more about OpenMRS, check out their website here: http://www.openmrs.org Excuse the dust, they are remodeling :)

Over the course of the Summer, I'll primarily give updates related to the development process on my project, an installer application for the OpenMRS system. I will also talk a bit about my day-to-day experiences as a professional software developer. Google Summer Of Code provides a GREAT opportunity to get your feet wet getting paid to do what you love, and for me, that's software engineering. I can't think of a better way to spend my Summer, or any day for that matter, than writing software.

So, stay tuned, and until then, wet your appetite with the OpenMRS main page mentioned above, as well as my developer homepage located at: http://openmrs.org/wiki/User:Zachelko

Until then, take care!

Zach J. Elko